2203. The lockdown

The city was about to declare another lockdown. Stephanie rushed out and bought a substantial amount of toilet paper. With three teenagers in the house, toilet paper was one thing not to run short on.

How lucky was she! She got the last packet of toilet paper in town. The shop shelves were practically empty. Stephanie felt a little triumphant!

However, her household quickly ran out of soap, and toothpaste, and kitchen detergent, and laundry detergent, and deodorant, and…

That’s when water restrictions set in.

1752. A winning day

Don’t ask me how he knew, but he knew alright. Charlie knew that this was his winning day. He didn’t know exactly how, but he knew it deep down in his bones.

He had always been intuitive; like when he knew his brother had passed away before the phone call even came through. Perhaps today he would win a lot of money in the lottery. Or perhaps he’d win the trailer load of groceries that the local Rotary Club had organized; after all he’d taken two tickets in the raffle. Perhaps he had been given the winning voucher from the local electronic supply shop; the promotion had said “Spend $20 and go in the draw to win”. He already knew how he’d spend it; at least how he’d spend part of it. He wanted a rice cooker, and a deep fryer, and a hand held whizzy stick-thing that pureed stuff. Not being sure as to which scenario was going to make his lucky day simply added to the excitement!

And then… as he looked out the window, two cars slowly passed the front of his house. One was a shiny new bright red car. Both drivers slowed down and looked at his house. They stopped just up the road. One of the drivers got out and went to the other driver’s window. They spoke for about five minutes.

During that time, Charlie was beside himself. He’d won a car! He simply knew! There were a number of competitions he’d entered over the previous month to win a car, and at last it had come to fruition. Oh lucky, lucky day!

The two cars were turning around now. They began to slowly approach Charlie’s house. He knew! He knew! Don’t ask me how he knew, but he knew alright. Charlie opened his front door wide as a welcoming gesture. His heart was in his mouth. The cars were moving so slowly. They almost came to a stop. And then they went right passed.

1623. The grocery list

When Theta got up that morning she discovered she was out of coffee. Not to worry! She would have a cup of tea and once daylight broke she would walk to the corner shop and buy some coffee. In the meantime she made a list of other things she would get.

The list grew longer; in fact, too long for the corner shop. She would have to get in the car and go to the supermarket. It didn’t open until seven each morning, but she might as well wait and it would save a trip in the next day or two to the supermarket.

Of course, once she started looking there was more and more to get. Butter would run out, as would cheese. And milk. And cream. In fact, the dairy compartment in her fridge needed an overhaul! Then there was flour and yeast. Both were getting low and Theta liked to bake her own bread. In a bread-maker mind you, but it was still nicer than most sliced loaves available. In fact, over the years, Theta had so refined the bread recipes for the machine, that there was rarely a failure. Now and again she might buy a baguette or bagels for a change.

Fresh fruit! It was always nice – and healthy – to have fresh fruit. Bananas were great because they were so convenient. But apples and oranges were always a must. Occasionally Theta would “break out” and buy a couple of pears, or even a bag of kiwifruit. Once she went way over the top and purchased a pomegranate!

There were general household items too that were getting low; cleaners and so on. In fact, the kitchen detergent had run out and that was a priority – although it was a very handy excuse “not to do the dishes”! But “not doing the dishes” couldn’t last forever!

The supermarket was about ten minutes away by car, so Theta left home about ten minutes before the shop would open. She loaded the trolley with groceries from the list, passed through the checkout, and headed home.

Unloading the car and putting things away was always a hassle and it was best to get it over with immediately upon arrival back home. Theta unpacked quickly. She put the kettle on for her morning coffee. When all was done, she…

…she…

…she had forgotten to buy coffee. It was not on the list.

1609. All was right with the world

(Today’s final sentence was suggested by observationblogger. It was thought it might be nice to end with a positive sentence for a change!!!)

It had got to the stage where Delia was too frightened to walk down the street to go to the shop. Despite a high concentration of police in the area, it was still unsafe to walk alone. In the past month there had been three gruesome murders. Before that, who knows how many? The murderer always left the same beautifully written note pinned to the victim: Thanks for the memories.

Once a week Delia would phone for a taxi and get taken to the supermarket right in the busy centre of town. Then she would return laden with bags of the coming week’s supplies. If she ran out of anything (for example, one week she ran out of sugar) it was bad luck. There was no way she would walk to the local shop.

Of course, getting a taxi added hugely to the weekly grocery bill. The taxi there and home again could cost Delia almost as much as the week’s groceries. Fortunately she was experienced at looking ahead and planning. So it was a little unusual when she ran out of milk, butter, flour, and eggs a good two days before she was due to go and shop via the taxi.

“I know,” thought Delia to herself, “I shall simply get a taxi two days earlier and plan to get a little extra so as to get back into the routine.” She phoned for a taxi.

The taxi driver was most pleasant, and had wonderful news. No sooner had the journey begun when he said, “I suppose you know they’ve caught the murderer. The police announced it just a few minutes ago.”

“That’s a huge relief,” said Delia. “I guess then this will be the last time I take a taxi.”

‘I’d imagine it will be,” smiled the nice taxi driver.

Delia sighed. All was right with the world.

1506: Bernard’s disorganized wife

Bernard’s wife does nothing other than complain. She’s a stay-at-home mother, which is a luxury most of us can ill afford. She complains that there are not enough hours in a day. Not enough hours in the day for what? Lounging around watching the soaps while the kids are at school?

Being a well-paid consultant I asked her to write down what she does in a day, so improvements can be made and then she’ll have no reason to complain. Here is a typical Wednesday – or so she claims:

Get the kids ready for school – 1 hour
Tidy the house – 2 hours
Prepare meals- 1 hour
Get the groceries – 2 hours
Do necessary odd jobs, e.g. take the car to get fixed etc. – 2 hours
Mow the lawn and weed the garden – 1 hour
Do the laundry – 1 hour sometimes 2
Pick up the kids from school – 1 hour, sometimes less, sometimes more
Take the dog for a walk and feed the dog and cat – 30 minutes

The list for Wednesday went on and on, but I won’t bore you with more details.

Look, I said to her, just get yourself organized and stop the complaining. Do some of these jobs on another day of the week.

1446. Just in case

The Second World War raged in Europe. Although she lived way away in New Zealand, she had three sons fighting in the war. One was in Turkey, she believed, and two in France.

Every Wednesday she would walk to town. It took about three quarters of an hour to walk there. While there she would get a few things for the coming week. She looked forward to the return of her sons. Besides, her knees were not too good, and she could do with a hand to carry the groceries!

Then she got a visit from a nice policeman who came to say that Sammy had died in Turkey. And a man in the army wrote a beautiful letter which made her cry even more. She continued of course to walk into town every Wednesday. How she longed for the war to be over.

Having the name of Catharyina Dodunski-Shultze meant she had to report to the Government office in town every Wednesday. They had to make sure. Just in case.

1396. The good old days

I remember years ago when I was young. My mother would give me sometimes less than a dollar and send me to the shop to get groceries.

It was amazing what I would bring home. There was tinned fruit, and honey, and bread. There was cereal and rice and stuff like that. Then there were always the non-edible items like batteries and light bulbs. Once I even managed to get a whole leg of frozen lamb, and that was over and above the regular chicken and beef steaks and pork chops.

Those were the good old days. How times have changed. These days there are too many cameras about.

1347. Ride into town

Butch would saddle his horse and ride into town. It was an all-day expedition and a weekly one – every Wednesday. Butch always admonished his wife, Mary, the same way: “Make the grocery list thoroughly. I don’t want to have to go into town a second time in one week. If you leave something off the list, that’s it. We’ll just have to do without.”

Then off he would go, leaving the farm, and the milking of the cow, to the care of his wife for the day. This weekly Wednesday venture was Butch’s way of having a day off. And it was useful as well; someone had to get the groceries. Besides, Roosters’ Saloon, the local watering trough, was an added attraction.

“Silly man,” thought Mary every time, “if he just took his cell phone I could text him with anything I’d forgotten.”

893. Missed turn

Apart from getting some groceries, Enid had two things to do in town that day: she had to return a book to the library, and she had to pick up a medical prescription at the pharmacy. Probably the best thing was to do these two errands first, before getting the groceries, and then she could whip off straight back home in her little blue car and not let the frozen ice cream melt.

If she turned down Hector Avenue she would come to the library first. And the pharmacy was in the mall – or just off the mall – so if she went from Hector Avenue and along Tremaine Street, she could park easily and then dash into the pharmacy.

And then there were the groceries. She had the list somewhere in her purse. At least she hope she’d put the grocery list in her purse. Once or twice over the years she’d left it at home!

“Oh! Blow!” thought Enid. With her musings she’d inadvertently passed the turn off to Hector Avenue, and now she had to rearrange the order of getting things. She would turn down Styx Street.

She turned down Styx Street. That was a pity, because she was hit by a truck and spent the rest of her days in a wheelchair.

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869. How’s your day been?

Adrian was tired of being asked inane questions by shop assistants. He’d pop into the supermarket to get a tin of cat food and be asked how his day has been.

“How’s your day been?” was the inevitable question. “How’s your day been?”

The shop assistant was barely out of diapers. She didn’t give a brass tack about how his day had been. She was trained by trainers in these massive food chains to take a personal interest in the customers, and this was achieved by asking how their day had been.

“It’s good, thanks,” Adrian always replied with a smile. “You have a good day yourself.”

The response to that was always, “Have you any coupons?” Coupons cut from fliers could be scanned for an automatic discount. There could be a good 18 cents knocked off the price of a can of asparagus.

“How’s your day been?”

“It’s good, thanks. You have a good day yourself.”

“Have you any coupons?”

Indeed! Adrian was tired of being asked inane questions by shop assistants. He decided to change his response:

“How’s your day been?”

“Look, my wife’s away and I spent all morning surfing the net and looking at porn and now I’m totally exhausted.”

“Have you any coupons?”

To listen to the story being read click HERE!